PRISONERS OF JAPAN

Evening Star, Issue 24917, 15 July 1943, Page 6

PRISONERS OF JAPAN

ALLIED LIST NOT COMPLETE RUGBY, July 13. The Secretary for War, Sir James Grigg, informed the House of Commons, in reply to questions, that 31,800 na-mes of officers and other ranks of the Nayy, the Army, and the Air Force had been notified as prisoners in Japanese hands. He added that, over 24,000 were still recorded as missing, the large majority of whom were thought to be prisoners. The number of civilians in Japanese hands was not known, but it was believed to be about 40,000. A'J efforts to secure Japanese agreement to the regular transport of relief supplies for the Far East had hitherto been unsuccessful, and it had only been possible to send such supplies on Japanese ships returning to Japan with exchanged Japanese prisoners. Definite information had been received that the supplies shipped had readied the prisoners and those interned in Japan, Shanghai, Hongkong, and Singapore. Efforts to arrange the despatch of relief supplies were still being pursued.